Easter
The fullness of the resurrection requires more than a day to unpack. The Easter season is a fifty-day celebration that ends on Pentecost Sunday (the Greek word pentekoste means “fiftieth”). The Easter season is a time to let the implications of the resurrection sink in deeper, inviting us to realign our worldview and conform our living to the reality that we have been raised with Christ to new life. Easter is full of joy and the laughter of love—the grave is empty, love has won, Christ is risen! Give yourself over to the experience of that joy—take in the absolute wonder of God’s purposeful plan of salvation (from Seeking God’s Face by Philip Reinders).
- Calling -
O Lord, open our lips.
And our mouth shall proclaim Your praise.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now and will be forever. Amen. Alleluia!
Alleluia. Christ the Lord ascendeth into heaven:
O come, let us adore him. Alleluia.
- Constitution -
Read/Listen, Meditate, Pray, and Contemplate on God’s Word, remembering that God is with you and ready to speak to you because he loves you.
Job 8
[1] Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said:
[2] “How long will you say these things,
and the words of your mouth be a great wind?
[3] Does God pervert justice?
Or does the Almighty pervert the right?
[4] If your children have sinned against him,
he has delivered them into the hand of their transgression.
[5] If you will seek God
and plead with the Almighty for mercy,
[6] if you are pure and upright,
surely then he will rouse himself for you
and restore your rightful habitation.
[7] And though your beginning was small,
your latter days will be very great.
[8] “For inquire, please, of bygone ages,
and consider what the fathers have searched out.
[9] For we are but of yesterday and know nothing,
for our days on earth are a shadow.
[10] Will they not teach you and tell you
and utter words out of their understanding?
[11] “Can papyrus grow where there is no marsh?
Can reeds flourish where there is no water?
[12] While yet in flower and not cut down,
they wither before any other plant.
[13] Such are the paths of all who forget God;
the hope of the godless shall perish.
[14] His confidence is severed,
and his trust is a spider’s web.
[15] He leans against his house, but it does not stand;
he lays hold of it, but it does not endure.
[16] He is a lush plant before the sun,
and his shoots spread over his garden.
[17] His roots entwine the stone heap;
he looks upon a house of stones.
[18] If he is destroyed from his place,
then it will deny him, saying, ‘I have never seen you.’
[19] Behold, this is the joy of his way,
and out of the soil others will spring.
[20] “Behold, God will not reject a blameless man,
nor take the hand of evildoers.
[21] He will yet fill your mouth with laughter,
and your lips with shouting.
[22] Those who hate you will be clothed with shame,
and the tent of the wicked will be no more.”
Job 9
[1] Then Job answered and said:
[2] “Truly I know that it is so:
But how can a man be in the right before God?
[3] If one wished to contend with him,
one could not answer him once in a thousand times.
[4] He is wise in heart and mighty in strength
—who has hardened himself against him, and succeeded?—
[5] he who removes mountains, and they know it not,
when he overturns them in his anger,
[6] who shakes the earth out of its place,
and its pillars tremble;
[7] who commands the sun, and it does not rise;
who seals up the stars;
[8] who alone stretched out the heavens
and trampled the waves of the sea;
[9] who made the Bear and Orion,
the Pleiades and the chambers of the south;
[10] who does great things beyond searching out,
and marvelous things beyond number.
[11] Behold, he passes by me, and I see him not;
he moves on, but I do not perceive him.
[12] Behold, he snatches away; who can turn him back?
Who will say to him, ‘What are you doing?’
[13] “God will not turn back his anger;
beneath him bowed the helpers of Rahab.
[14] How then can I answer him,
choosing my words with him?
[15] Though I am in the right, I cannot answer him;
I must appeal for mercy to my accuser.
[16] If I summoned him and he answered me,
I would not believe that he was listening to my voice.
[17] For he crushes me with a tempest
and multiplies my wounds without cause;
[18] he will not let me get my breath,
but fills me with bitterness.
[19] If it is a contest of strength, behold, he is mighty!
If it is a matter of justice, who can summon him?
[20] Though I am in the right, my own mouth would condemn me;
though I am blameless, he would prove me perverse.
[21] I am blameless; I regard not myself;
I loathe my life.
[22] It is all one; therefore I say,
‘He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.’
[23] When disaster brings sudden death,
he mocks at the calamity of the innocent.
[24] The earth is given into the hand of the wicked;
he covers the faces of its judges—
if it is not he, who then is it?
[25] “My days are swifter than a runner;
they flee away; they see no good.
[26] They go by like skiffs of reed,
like an eagle swooping on the prey.
[27] If I say, ‘I will forget my complaint,
I will put off my sad face, and be of good cheer,’
[28] I become afraid of all my suffering,
for I know you will not hold me innocent.
[29] I shall be condemned;
why then do I labor in vain?
[30] If I wash myself with snow
and cleanse my hands with lye,
[31] yet you will plunge me into a pit,
and my own clothes will abhor me.
[32] For he is not a man, as I am, that I might answer him,
that we should come to trial together.
[33] There is no arbiter between us,
who might lay his hand on us both.
[34] Let him take his rod away from me,
and let not dread of him terrify me.
[35] Then I would speak without fear of him,
for I am not so in myself.
Job 10
[1] “I loathe my life;
I will give free utterance to my complaint;
I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.
[2] I will say to God, Do not condemn me;
let me know why you contend against me.
[3] Does it seem good to you to oppress,
to despise the work of your hands
and favor the designs of the wicked?
[4] Have you eyes of flesh?
Do you see as man sees?
[5] Are your days as the days of man,
or your years as a man’s years,
[6] that you seek out my iniquity
and search for my sin,
[7] although you know that I am not guilty,
and there is none to deliver out of your hand?
[8] Your hands fashioned and made me,
and now you have destroyed me altogether.
[9] Remember that you have made me like clay;
and will you return me to the dust?
[10] Did you not pour me out like milk
and curdle me like cheese?
[11] You clothed me with skin and flesh,
and knit me together with bones and sinews.
[12] You have granted me life and steadfast love,
and your care has preserved my spirit.
[13] Yet these things you hid in your heart;
I know that this was your purpose.
[14] If I sin, you watch me
and do not acquit me of my iniquity.
[15] If I am guilty, woe to me!
If I am in the right, I cannot lift up my head,
for I am filled with disgrace
and look on my affliction.
[16] And were my head lifted up, you would hunt me like a lion
and again work wonders against me.
[17] You renew your witnesses against me
and increase your vexation toward me;
you bring fresh troops against me.
[18] “Why did you bring me out from the womb?
Would that I had died before any eye had seen me
[19] and were as though I had not been,
carried from the womb to the grave.
[20] Are not my days few?
Then cease, and leave me alone, that I may find a little cheer
[21] before I go—and I shall not return—
to the land of darkness and deep shadow,
[22] the land of gloom like thick darkness,
like deep shadow without any order,
where light is as thick darkness.”
Psalm 4
To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments. A Psalm of David.
[1] Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness!
You have given me relief when I was in distress.
Be gracious to me and hear my prayer!
[2] O men, how long shall my honor be turned into shame?
How long will you love vain words and seek after lies? Selah
[3] But know that the LORD has set apart the godly for himself;
the LORD hears when I call to him.
[4] Be angry, and do not sin;
ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent. Selah
[5] Offer right sacrifices,
and put your trust in the LORD.
[6] There are many who say, “Who will show us some good?
Lift up the light of your face upon us, O LORD!”
[7] You have put more joy in my heart
than they have when their grain and wine abound.
[8] In peace I will both lie down and sleep;
for you alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety.
- Communion -
Pray for yourself, others, our church, our neighbors, and the world.
Pray the Lord’s Prayer & the collect of the week:
Our Father who art in heaven...
O God, the King of glory, you have exalted your only Son Jesus Christ with great triumph to your kingdom in heaven: Do not leave us comfortless, but send us your Holy Spirit to strengthen us, and exalt us to that place where our Savior Christ has gone before; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.
- Commission -
May the God of peace, who raised to life the great shepherd of the sheep, make us ready to do his will in every good thing, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. (Hebrews 13:20-21)
Go in peace to love and serve the Lord and our neighbors.